For the second year in a row, Ellie Greenwood set a women’s course record en route to winning the Chuckanut 50k. In the following interview, find out how she was pushed by Jodee Adams-Moore this year, how she approached poor footing, and what it took to run a course record in less than ideal conditions. For more about Ellie’s 2011 race and her training this winter watch our pre-race interview with her.

Ellie Greenwood Post-2012 Chuckanut 50k Interview Transcript

iRunFar: I’m with Ellie Greenwood who is, once again, the Chuckanut 50k champion. How does it feel?

Ellie Greenwood: It was awesome. I didn’t actually lead for a good chunk of the race. Jodee [Adams-Moore], who came in second, was actually in the lead for quite a ways, so it wasn’t a given for sure. So it’s nice to sort of really earn a win, right?

iRF: Yes, because you earned a loss 2 years ago.

Greenwood: Exactly. You know, I love this. This is the fourth time I’ve run this race; it’s just such a great course, it has so much variety. It’s a race I really love. Some wins mean more than others.

iRF: So you were right with Jodee at mile 20. Tell us what happened after that.

Greenwood: Yeah, I could see her ahead of me or I’d get feedback like, “Oh, she’s 40 seconds up or a minute” or whatever. I don’t know Jodee at all. She’d looked good on some downhills early on, so I was a little concerned. If she’s a good downhiller, there’s a lot of downhill later on. So you can’t rely on that. So it was maybe 10-15 minutes before Chinscraper that I went by her. Once you’re in the lead it’s a little bit nerve wracking. Now you’re not getting the feedback, because you don’t know how far people are behind you. I was still feeling alright and knowing the course definitely helps because you can anticipate what’s coming up.

iRF: So did you know that you had much of a lead coming out of Aid Station 5?

Greenwood: No, but in some sense that’s better because you run harder.

iRF: Which you did because you set about a 3 minute course record, which is great because conditions were not fast out there. They weren’t the worst ever, but…

Greenwood: Yeah. It definitely wasn’t as fast as last year. People are still coming in now and they would have had a tough time because we churned up the course and they had to run through it. Had it been more rain than snow, it would have been really, really messy. In a sense, sometimes snow is better, but you had to be careful up on the ridge with the big slabs of rock because they had snow on them and such.

iRF: Did you take any tumbles?

Greenwood: No.

iRF: Oh, you’re one of the first one’s I’ve talked to that didn’t.

Greenwood: Well, I did slow down a bit where sometimes slowing down a bit was actually faster, because you don’t get out of control or fall over or whatever, so just keep a steady pace.

iRF: Before the race you were saying you were looking forward to that last 10k, that fast Interurban Trail. How was that today?

Greenwood: It was a little painful. I think I did around 43 minutes, this year. I did around 43 minutes last year, but I was feeling much better last year. I think my hamstrings often play up from slipping and sliding around on the snow a bit and then you’re just hammering it out. There was one guy ahead of me and it was like he was just dragging me along, so it was great to have that. But yeah, it was pretty “counting down the kilometers.”

iRF: I bet. I remember you saying just a bit ago that you didn’t think you could hold 6 min/km.

Greenwood: No, no, I know the Interurban Trail is flat and fast, but there are a couple rolls, you know you roll down and up and suddenly you’ve lost your pace. I knew I was on 3h25 with about 11k to go, so the course record was doable, but I had to keep the pace up.

iRF: So that motivated you?

Greenwood: Oh yeah, for sure, for sure.

iRF: Well, congratulations on another win and another course record. We’ll see you soon!

Starting to see why she's so tough; smart racer who finds elements to keep her motivated (being chased, 'dragged along' by the guy in front of her, beat the course record). Good mental tools go a long way. I hope she get another good run at WS100 this year.